The Daily Toreador - U.S. Senator Visits Tech's Facilities at Reese Center

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The Daily Toreador - U.S. Senator Visits Tech's Facilities at Reese Center

By: MIke Graham

Texas Tech researchers demonstrated some of their latest technology and research when U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-TX, visited Lubbock and the Reese Technology Center Thursday.

"It was great to have him here," said Rick Walker, a research associate at the Wind Science and Engineering Research Center. "We're developing a new program in wind energy, so to have people like him interested in it is a good thing. It can mean more funding for the research programs that Tech has and for wind energy in general. I think he was impressed with what he saw."

Cornyn's visit came approximately 30 days before much of the 2010 federal funding education budget is passed, said David McClure, assistant vice chancellor of marketing and communication.

Cornyn said he was impressed with what he saw of Tech's facilities and research.

"Texas Tech is No. 1 in the world offering PhD's the wind energy field," Cornyn said. "But this program is more than wind energy. It's about keeping people safe from the kinds of storms we have encountered recently. This is very impressive, and I'm certainly happy to do everything I can to continue to support the good work that is being done here."

Cornyn arrived around 3:30 p.m. at the Wind Power/Hurricane/Water Desalination Building and was greeted by regents, government officials and Reese faculty members. The senator then boarded a bus with several Tech faculty members and government officials and was given an approximately 10-minute bus tour of the Reese Center campus. Cornyn then was briefed on the history of Tech's programs at the center by Kishor Mehta, a Horn professor in the Department of Civil Engineering.

Cornyn's bus tour ended at the Tornado Research Building. The senator viewed a demonstration of the Debris Impact Facility, commonly referred to as the Tornado Cannon.

The canon fired a piece of wood at 102 miles per hour into a brick wall to simulate what kind of damage a piece of flying debris could inflict on a standing object during a tornado, said senior technician Shannon Hutchinson.

The senator jokingly asked "Can I get one?"

After viewing the Tornado Cannon, Cornyn was led by Walker to the Wind Power/Hurricane/Water Desalination Building and was shown some of the computerized weather technologies at the center. In the same building, the senator walked through the Measurement Analysis Lab and looked at several data posters on the wall and marveled some storm chasing equipment before addressing the media and departing for his Austin office.

"Certainly a lot of the work right here will keep us safe when Mother Nature gives us another hurricane or tornado," Cornyn said. "Research for wind energy as well as nuclear and solar energy is very important as we try to reduce our dependency on foreign oil."

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